Only one member of the royal family has ever run the London Marathon – dressed as a caterpillar in a green tutu!

Only one member of the royal family has ever completed the London Marathon. 

Despite there being many sporty royals and the course bypassing Buckingham Palace, only one of the Windsor clan has put on their running shoes and tackled the iconic marathon.

Princess Beatrice, 35, the elder daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, competed it in 2010, when she was just 21 in aid of Fergie’s charity Children in Crisis. 

The royal joined 33 others to form a part of a ‘human caterpillar’, meaning they were tied together with bungee cords while running the famous route.

Wearing a green tutu, Beatrice became the first royal to complete the race and also set the record for the largest number of runners to finish a marathon tied together. 

She gave Fergie an emotional hug after completing the race and took part alongside her then-boyfriend Dave Clarke and her friends Sam and Holly Branson. 

The Duchess of York told the BBC at the time: ‘For so long I’ve been trying to get her fit and now she’s showing me up today.

‘I’ve just decided that if she’s such a good role-model to me then next year I’m going to do it.’ 

Beatrice, who is ninth in line to the throne, is married to Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, 40, and they share a daughter, Sienna, born in 2021. 

Last week Beatrice, 35, attended an industry event at Spotify’s London office, seeming to build up a working relationship with the company – after the difficulties surrounding Harry and Meghan’s podcast. 

She ran the marathon in 2010 aged 21 in aid of Fergie’s charity Children in Crisis

Wearing a green tutu, Beatrice became the first royal to complete the race

Her parents Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson watched on from the sidelines

Beatrice also helped set a record for the largest number of people to finish the race while tied together

The royal joined 33 others to form a part of a ‘human caterpillar’, meaning they were tied together with bungee cords while running the famous route

Beatrice is the only member of the royal family to have run the London Marathon. 

While they’ve never taken part in the marathon themselves, the Prince and Princess of Wales did cheer on participants in 2017 from a water station for the ‘Heads Together’ mental health charity. 

They kicked off the event by pressing a red button and handed out bottled water to the athletes, who couldn’t help but stop for selfies with the famous couple. 

Prince Harry also joined the royal couple in cheering on from the sidelines.  

While they have never completed the race themselves, Kate and William joked around at the training day in 2017

They were joined by Prince Harry as they cheered the runners on from the ‘Heads Together’ charity stand

Kate and William even attended a training day beforehand, where they joked around and pretended they were also running the race.  

On Sunday, more than 50,000 people are taking part in this year’s event through the city, starting in Blackheath Common, before finishing on The Mall by Buckingham Palace. 

The elite women’s race begins at 9.25am, while the men’s starts at 10am – and amateur runners set off between 10am and 11.30am.